ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors provide background on privacy and related topics, legality, and ethics in using education data. They outline potential ethical concerns that arise from using data in educational contexts and to make instructional decisions. The authors describe issues surrounding ethical and responsible use of data when a dispassionate algorithm may be weighing in on consequential actions. In the US, the legal responsibilities of educational institutions that gather, store, and use student data and the organizations they partner with to analyze those data—including universities, nonprofits, and companies—are set forth by Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), first enacted in 1974. The stated default for FERPA is to obtain consent for data collection and use, but the regulations include exceptions to allow educational institutions efficient operations. FERPA supports educators and administrators by outlining what data they are permitted to collect and use without notifying parents, and how they can extend that permission to disclose data to authorized users.
